When I'm Gone
by TonyStark941
Summary: Tony Stark. Genius. Billionaire. Playboy. Philanthropist. Dying on the ground. Except...he's Tony Stark, and not even a gunshot to the arc reactor can kill him. Basically a fic with Tony being shot, and dying, then disappearing for three weeks, before returning very much alive straight into Steve Rogers' arms.


The battle was going well. A bit too well, Tony thought. It was going relatively quickly compared to their most recent fight, but Tony was so not going to complain. It was a bright, sunny day in New York City, and he had a pool to swim in, a sarcastic AI to tend to and a little 'session' with his science bro in their shared lab to go to. He couldn't wait to start making the stretch pants with Bruce!  
"On your left," Steve's voice sounded through the comms. Through the corner of his eye, he could see him swatting away the doom bots like flies with his prized shield.

Tony managed to dodge the rogue doom bot heading straight for him, and, within a matter of seconds, it was reduced to nothing but a soldering pile of broken metal and orange sparks. Tony watched in satisfaction as it plummeted down, and landed not-so-gently in a heap in the middle of the park.

"What is it with you and your 'on your left' thing? I had to sit through Wilson whining- "

"Hey, man! I wasn't whining." Sam cut in, swooping through the rooftops.

"-all about how you completely outran him, and mocked him by saying that." Tony finished, smirking. An audible sigh was heard on the comms.

"Hey, boys. Stop fighting. Someone needs to find Doom, and hurry- I really want to go swimming," Natasha said. She was sitting on the rooftop of a very high building with Clint, her gun and his arrows raining down on the doom bots on the ground in perfect sync.

"I'm on it," Tony said. He turned on the private link between JARVIS and him. "JARVIS, you heard her. Locate Doom."  
Within seconds, a small map of New York City was shown on his visor, with a red arrow flashing in one of the buildings, alerting him of the evil 'mastermind's' location.

"I have found him, sir," JARVIS said. "Be careful."

"What's life if you're always careful?" Tony asked, flying towards the building.

"A very short life." JARVIS answered. Tony chose not to reply to that, and instead flew to the warehouse that JARVIS had told him he was in.

Tony looked around, before landing on the ground with what Peter Parker liked to call 'The Superhero Landing'. He was about to walk in, when he heard the shrill beeping of a doom bot.

The superhero watched as one came flying out from behind the warehouse, making Tony chuckle- was this all that Doom had to protect him? Tony watched as it darted towards him, before he used his repulsor beams to smash it to bits. Another shrill beeping was heard, then another, then another, until Tony began to feel a bit…worried.

That was when around 200 doom bots appeared out of what seemed like nowhere. Oh, shit. He would never be able to live it down if he got beaten by one or two doom bots, but, Tony really didn't think he'd even be alive for the team to mock him.

"Guys, back up, please. I'm surround-" Tony started, but his sentence was broken by a high-pitched ringing sound coming from the comm. He quickly cut off the link, and fear was starting to bubble in his stomach. That was a lot of doom bots, and it seemed that Doom had saved the worst for him.

These ones were different, more advanced. He found that one repulsor beam wouldn't stop them, but quite a few would immobilise them for a few seconds, until they would get back up and fight. The metal they were made from was certainly not the cheap material that Doom usually used, no. They were something different, something stronger.

"JARVIS, initiate sequence 189.68," Tony said, taking a step back, as 100 or so doom bots began to advance on him.

"Sequence initiated." JARVIS responded.

Tony flew up in the air, his hands and feet angling towards the crowd of beeping 'bots.

"Ready, J?"

"Ready, sir."

Tony rose up higher, and pressed the flashing button on his wrist. A large 'bang' echoed through the empty street, and, soon the doom bots were victim to the fire licking at them, melting the metal into dripping, silver liquid. He was so glad he remembered to put in this feature last month during the updates.

He did it again, and used his new flamethrowers to defeat what was left, until only around 50 were left buzzing over the liquid metal on the floor, most of them looking damaged in some way. Tony was just about to start destroying the rest, when they all departed abruptly, flying around the warehouse to what he assumed was a secret back entrance, probably to go and join Doom. He made to follow them, but was stopped in his tracks when an impeccably dressed Doom strode out, the huge warehouse doors banging behind him.

"Hello, Mister Stark," He said in a smooth, silky voice.

"Doom."

"Mister Stark, I am giving you one, last chance to join me. Together, we can become Stark & Doom. With my skill and your brains, we can rule the world, be empires over a world filled with robots."

"Hell no. That is never going to happen. I'm arresting you, and the government and whoever else can deal with you. I am in no mood for your shit. You either come nicely or don't; don't make me fight you." Stark said. He was still trying to work out what was wrong with the comms.

Doom smiled. "Oh, Stark. I will surrender. But, first, I must break you, and the Avengers, like all of you broke apart me and my family. You will pay for what you did."

"We are unbreakable, and you put your family in harm's way. They could've been saved, if you hadn't done what you did. If you hadn't sent doom bots to raid Chicago last year, maybe you could've prevented their deaths. They were killed at the hands of your inventions," Tony replied.

"Like Ultron prevented all those deaths," Doom responded sarcastically, causing Tony to flinch. "You're a hypocrite, Stark. And so are your friends. I will end you. End you all."

"Look, I have so had it with all of this 'I will end you' crap. You're no different from any villain we've encountered, maybe even one of the stupidest. You can't break us, as I said before, we're unbreakable."

Doom laughed an evil, humourless cackle. "I can't wait to see your friend's faces as you slowly die on the sidewalk. I'll see you in Hell."

The madly laughing man flourished his hands in the air, and, before he could even begin to realise what was happening, Tony could feel the suit being pried off him, hear the metal clinking to the floor, leaving him defenceless and vulnerable. Tony knew that he was useless without the suit, and he had no chance without it. He thought about calling another, but he remembered that his earpiece was broken, so he had lost contact to everyone, including JARVIS.

Doom reached into his pocket, his stare unwavering on Tony, as if watching what the engineer would do next. Tony felt sick when he saw a small handgun being pulled out of Doom's coat. It felt like the silver finish glinting in the sun was mocking him.

"I was given this gun by my late father, Werner Von Doom, and he told me to save this one bullet for something that would cause the most destruction. I spent years thinking about it, about who I would kill, until I realised something- I don't have to use this gun to kill, I can use it to injure so badly that a person will die, but not from the bullet." Doom paused. "Did I ever mention how much I love your arc reactor, big fan by the way…"

Tony made to cover the arc reactor, but it was too late. The silver bullet whizzed through the air, and hit Tony square in the chest, smashing the arc reactor's glass casing, and turning the comforting blue light off. Pure agony went through Tony, and he gave a violent seizure on the floor, hitting his head violently on the hard ground. It hurt so bad, that he could see stars in his eyes, and everything had become a blurred mess of colours. He tried, and tried again to breathe in, to get some air into his lungs, but to no avail- he simply couldn't breathe. A mental image went through him of the shrapnel entering his heart, and he vomited blood onto the ground.

Doom put the gun down onto the pavement, and walked towards him. He stroked his hair, almost like a mother comforting her son. "You have seven and a half minutes until the shrapnel enters your heart. Make use of your last remaining moments." Doom waved his hands again, and Tony was suddenly able to move, which wasn't much help at all, seeing as he was dying on the ground and could barely speak.

Tony didn't want to die this way; he didn't want to die at all. He was not ready to go. He had been planning to tell Steve that he loved him tonight, something he had been building up the courage to do for months. He had to give Bruce his birthday present tomorrow, and Natasha her new widow bites. He had a movie night scheduled with Clint and Thor, and Sam's birthday party in a month. He didn't want to die, not now, not for a long time.

Tony subtly (he hoped) lifted his shaking hand to his ear, and clicked the small button to turn his comm on. He prayed that the technical glitch had been fixed and that he would be able to connect to the Avengers; if Tony was going to die, he at least wanted to see the faces of his loved ones for the last time.

"Guys?" he whispered into the comm. His heart skipped a beat when he heard Steve's worried voice answer.

"Tony? Tony? What's wrong? Where are you? Are you okay? We've been trying to contact you for ages." He asked, the soldier firing questions at Tony like there was no tomorrow. Which there probably wasn't for Tony.

"It was all a trap. Doom… he…" Tony wheezed, trying not to look at the blood that had been coughed up.

"TONY!" Bruce shouted urgently on the comms, but Tony didn't reply.

"Stark. You killed my family, took everything I held dear. Now, you're going to pay the price. I hate you, Tony Stark." The villain spat.

"Tony. Tony! Tony, we're coming. It's going to be okay. Tell us what happened." Natasha shouted, for once not sounding like the calm and collected assassin she usually was.

"He had a gun... He shot me. Broke the arc reactor… shrapnel. I'm going-" The comm was suddenly ripped off his head.

"Tony can't talk to you right now. You should've saved him whilst you could." Doom sang. Even from a meter away, Tony could hear the team's shouts. Thunder was rumbling dangerously in the sky, and lighting was flashing.

"You deserve to die slowly and painfully for all of your sins. You will bleed out onto the pavement in front of the team. Your team will come just in time. Just in time to see you die." Doom flicked his hand, and Tony smashed straight into the brick wall behind him.

More pain. It was all Tony could feel now. Tony whimpered. He wanted to see Steve, for him to kiss him, to confess his feelings to him. He wanted him and Steve to be able to be a couple, for Tony to start a relationship with the man he had been yearning for weeks, but it was too late, now. A tear slid down his cheek. He just wanted it all to end, for the pain to stop. He wanted to see his family's faces before he went, but he was fading too quickly.

The pain was becoming too much for him to bear, but all he could do was force out a choked sob. A face appeared above him, and another, and another, until Tony felt himself staring silently at his family, as they screamed at him to hold on, that help would arrive. Relief blossomed in his heart; he was happy that he would not die alone.

He could feel hands pressing against his chest trying to stem the bleeding, but it was too late. He was already fading, and Tony was scared. He knew it was too late, but he couldn't leave like this.

Steve was crying, his tears dropping steadily onto Tony's face. Tony used all of the strength he could muster, because he had to say these words before he died, before his heart stopped beating forever.

"I love you, Steve…" He forced out, before submitting to the darkness and the pain. He saw his favourite people's faces before he went.

Tony awoke on a cold, white floor in a cold, white room. Except it wasn't really a room; it had no ceiling, no door, no walls. It was just pure whiteness, never ending, and always there. A woman was standing next to him, gazing up at what should have been the ceiling, looking lost in thought. He stirred quietly, hoping she wouldn't notice his consciousness.

She suddenly looked down at him. "Tony," she said, her voice angelic and soft, calming his racing thoughts down almost immediately. "I've been waiting for you,"

Well, that was pretty creepy.

Tony looked at his surroundings again, wary and alert. "Where am I?" She smiled at him, like she guessed he would ask that.

The woman sat down on the 'ground' next to Tony, her legs crossed. "You are in the Limbo," She noticed his confusion and carried on. "It is the place between life and death, the place where souls go before continuing their journey."

"Who are you?" Tony asked.

"Elyss. Life itself. I am the one that keeps the souls here in the Limbo, and it is I who sends them to their next life."

Tony didn't know what to say, so he didn't reply. She must have noticed, because she continued to talk.

"You're loved ones are in a lot of pain, and I notice something…different about you- it is not your time to go. I believe Death cheated me to get to you, but I have made a deal with him: you can go back if you wish, see your family on Earth, or you can stay here and stay with your loved ones from long ago. You will go on to be a great man if you go back, and I know that you will do many wonderful things for your world in the future. However, there are some lost souls that have asked to speak to you, and they will be here shortly.

"I will leave you to talk to them. Once you are finished, a boat will take you to whichever destination you choose, and, if you choose my offer, you will be automatically transported to wherever you wish to go. Good luck, Tony. I will see you soon," Elyss said, before disappearing in a blinding flash of light. He stared at the spot where she had vanished, not quite knowing what to do.

There was a long beat of silence, until…

"Tony…?" Someone behind him whispered in a very familiar voice. Tony whirled around and almost fell to the floor in shock when he saw who it was.

"Jarvis? Peggy? Mama?" Tony said breathlessly, feeling his heart pound in his ears. He ran over to his deceased loved ones, and pulled them into a tight hug.

"We've missed you, Tony. But we're so proud of all that you have done," Peggy said, kissing his forehead. She was wearing her green army outfit, and her trademark red lipstick stood out against her pale skin. A golden wedding band glinted on her finger, bearing the name of 'George Howell'.

"I love you, my bambino. I am so sorry for all that I did to you in the past." His mama said, crying gently. Tony wiped her tears away.

"I'm sorry too, Mama. I'm sorry I wasn't the smartest, greatest, best son." Tony whispered shakily.

"Oh, Anthony. You were the smartest, greatest, best son I could've wished for, and more." Maria replied, still sobbing into his shoulder. Her red flowery dress fluttered in the invisible wind, and she looked healthier than he had ever seen her before. Her stress lines had vanished, as had her wrinkles, and she looked at peace and happy, except from the fact she was crying on Tony's shoulder.

Tony looked over to Jarvis with his balding head, patched suit and crooked glasses. "Jarvis… I missed you so much."

"As did I, Anthony. As did I. I'm honoured that you named an AI after me, really, he's a lot like me, isn't he!" The two men gave a watery chuckle.

"Where's Howard?" Tony asked, trying not to sound scared, but his tight voice betrayed him.

Peggy sighed and rubbed his shoulder. Maria looked too angry to speak. "He's gone somewhere where he will never bother you again. He's a bad man, your father is. Don't ever doubt yourself like he did you. You're perfect in your own way, and he was jealous of your intelligence- he knew you were much smarter than he was at your age."

Howard was…jealous of Tony, because he thought Tony was smarter. Wow. Talk about major revelations.

"Will I ever have to see him again?" Tony wondered aloud.

"Not if you don't want to. He will never bother you again." Mama said, she was still hugging him.

He looked at the three of them, and wiped the falling tears from his eyes. He didn't want to leave them ever again. They exchanged glances, like they knew what he was thinking.

Peggy looked at him. "What about Steve? You love him, he loves you. You can't leave him."

Tony looked at his godmother in surprise. "Don't you love him?"

"I did. But it was never going to work. Our love was quick and finished before it even started properly. Go for him. Take a leap of faith, Tony."

Elyss suddenly appeared. "I take it you're finished?" She asked, smiling gently at him.

Tony was about to disagree, but Jarvis cut in. "He is."

"N…no. I don't want to go. I'll never see you again." Tony cried in fear.

"Now, you know that's not true. They will be waiting for you, and, once you have lived a long and happy life, they will be here, right where you left them."

Tony sniffled, and hugged everyone one more time. "I'll miss you. All of you."  
They began to fade, until it was just him and Elyss left. They have been watching over you, and they will continue to do so. You may not be able to see them, but they will always be with you right there," she pointed to his heart.

A boat appeared, the engine silent like a ghost.

"Goodbye, Tony." Elyss said, before pushing him lightly onto the boat. He stood on the side, watching Elyss as she gave him a kiss on the cheek, and say something to him.

"You are special, Tony, don't forget that."

And then there was nothing.

Tony awoke to birds chirping in the sky above him, the sound tedious and annoying, whilst calming and relieving at the same time. He was lying on the exact spot where he had 'died', but this time the street was empty, save for a few remaining pieces of the Iron Man suit, and melted metal in puddles in the ground.

It was strange to see a world full of colour after visiting something so white, and it was entrancing; Tony felt like he was seeing New York for the first time. He loved the way that New York was always noisy, and, even though the sun was beginning to set, there were still busy shoppers running around, desperately trying to grab as much merchandise as they could in the Boxing Day sales.

There was something strange about the city though, like a dark cloud had come and sucked some of the happiness out of it. It was weird, and it looked like everyone was grieving. It seemed someone every special and important had died. He wondered what he had missed since he had been gone.

Tony saw that he was wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans- how they were on was a complete mystery to him; he certainly wasn't wearing them under the suit. He had a flashback of the 'incident', and he couldn't stop his hand from shooting up to check that his arc reactor was intact. He let out a deep breath when he realised that it was no longer damaged and glowing as brightly as ever.

He began to walk to Stark Tower- which was only about two blocks away- and had to step over quite a few bunches of flowers (more like a river of them), to actually get into the building, which was unusually silent.

Then it all clicked- he really was quite slow. He had died. And those people must have been mourning…? Probably because Doom had gotten away, and they felt like they needed to do it out of service. Yes, that was probably what had happened.

Tony slipped through the double doors of his tower, and immediately felt at ease. He was finally home- not in some creepy not-on-earth place or dying on the ground.

JARVIS' voice sounded through the entrance hall, making Tony jump. "Sir, is that really you?" He asked, making his creator's eyes fill with tears. Tony was proud of JARVIS, and was amazed at the way he conveyed emotions, and sounded so much like the real Jarvis.

"Yes…yes, J. It's me. I…I'm back." Tony said.

" I will alert the others then…?" JARVIS questioned.

"No, no thank you. I think it would be better if I were to do so myself, but thanks, buddy,"

"As you wish, sir," JARVIS responded.

"Oh, and JARVIS? What is the date today?" Tony almost dreaded the answer, but no way could it be past boxing day- he hadn't even been there for Christmas.

"Sir, it is 30th December 2017," The AI supplied.

Wow. He had been gone for three weeks. How was that even possible- it only felt like a day had passed since his non-death.

"Are you sure?" He asked uncertainly.

JARVIS paused, as if he were checking something. "I have compared between 52 databases, and all results have come out to be the same as mine. I am very sorry sir, but you have been gone for 20 days."

"Uh…wow. That's a lot isn't it. Um…" was all that Tony could force out.

"Indeed sir," JARVIS' grave voice suddenly turned joyful. "But, you are back now, sir, and that is all that matters. Though, I think it would be wise to tell this to your friends, they are…in an 'indescribable' mood."

Tony sighed. He really hoped he wasn't going to walk in on them celebrating his death. "I'm on it,"

The engineer walked through the hall, and took his 'private' elevator up to the communal lounge, where he knew that they would be. The atmosphere in the lift was so tense and unnerving, that Tony almost wanted to run away from his anxious thoughts (which wasn't possible, but some people can dream, right?).

The doors slid open after what felt like eternity, and he was most definitely not expecting the scene that lay in front of him.

Natasha's usually neat appearance was unsettling to see. Her hair was a mess of tangles and curls that hadn't looked like it had been washed for weeks, and her face was completely devoid of all emotion, save for the glassy eyes and puffiness that indicated she had been crying quite a lot very recently. She was curled up on the loveseat with Clint by her side, who was whispering words into her ear, kissing her gently every so often.

Bruce was sitting on the floor, slouched against the edge of the sofa, not even trying to control the tears streaming out of his eyes. In his hands, he held the arc reactor, which he was desperately trying to fix; his hands were shaking so badly that he was making a bigger mess, but he was still trying, like he had something to prove, like it would take away all of his pain if he fixed it.

Clint had Natasha lying on him, and he was comforting her by whispering kind words into her ear, but it looked like he was trying to convince himself that it would be alright, rather than Natasha. His knuckles were a bloody mess, and he was sitting taut and stiff on the couch, back as stiff as one of his bows.

Thor was flicking through channels on the TV, which Tony realised were news sights, all showing reports on Tony's death, flinching at particularly graphic videos. Mjolnir was in his hand, and was being swung around dangerously. Tony looked outside, and saw a storm beginning to brew in the sky.

Sam was next to Thor, and he too was watching the news reports, as if silently punishing himself for what had happened. Redwing, who was usually chirping and flying noisily around the room, was sitting quietly in Sam's arms, like it was providing comfort for the Avenger.

Steve looked the worst out of all of them. He was sitting on the window seat, tears pouring out of his eyes, his discarded sketchbook by his side; a drawing of Tony on the ground had been scribbled on, and a piece of broken charcoal sat on it, half powder from the way Steve had obviously been pressing hard with it. The scariest thing was that his face was an emotionless mask, even though he was clearly crying. Like Clint, his knuckles were bruised and bleeding, and had little specks of plaster dust on it. Clearly- from the state of the floor (which was covered with broken plaster and dust)- he had taken his anger out on the wall.

Tony wanted to say something that would make them look up, make them happy again, but his rehearsed speech had evaporated from his mind. "Um…hi…?" Tony asked, almost sheepishly.

He was so not prepared for Natasha and Steve to pull out their guns, Redwing to shoot up and stand guarding Sam, Clint to pull out his bow and arrows from nowhere, or for Thor to swing Mjolnir in Tony's direction.

There was a long beat of silence where everyone stared at Tony like he would start killing them any minute.

"Uh…" He drew up blank. For once, the great Tony Stark didn't know what to say at all. "Uh… It's really me, guys."

Natasha stalked towards him and pressed the barrel of her gun into his head. "Speak now, говнюк, or I will kill you." Clearly the assassin thought he was some sort of intruder.

"I…I didn't die. Well, I did. Kind of. But then I was brought back to life. I think. Wait, did I die, or was I just… I don't know. Anyways, my name is Anthony Edward Stark, and I am alive." He looked down, and pinched himself hard on the arm, letting out a very manly yelp. "Yep, definitely alive,"

"No. You're not. We saw our brother-in-arms die before us. Who are you, imposter?" Thor bellowed, making Tony flinch. Wow, this was going to be hard.

"You see, the thing is… I mean, yes. I died. But then something really weird happened and I met this woman called Elyss and she said that I was not ready to die, and then I met Aunty Peggy, and Jarvis and Mama, and she-" He rambled.

"Prove it. What were you're last words?" Steve's cold, hard tone made Tony flinch.

He thought back to when he died, and his face went bright red remembering what he had admitted to Steve, who was still looking at him expectantly.

"I said…IloveyouSteve," Tony mumbled, hoping that the super soldier would hear him. Obviously, luck was not on his side, since everyone carried on staring at him. Tony took a deep breath, aware of the fact that his face was obviously a very unattractive colour, and whispered it. "I love you, Steve."

Steve had heard this team, as did the rest of the team, seeing as the room went completely still- well, stiller than it was before.

"JARVIS, scan him. Is it really Tony?" Bruce asked hopefully, hands beginning to loosen on the broken arc reactor.

"My scans indicate that it is Mr Stark. You may drop your weapons, he is alive and standing before you." JARVIS provided.

And then there was a big clatter as everyone literally went and dropped their weapons, and headed straight for Tony. Natasha slapped his face and threatened to kill him if he ever did anything like that again. Thor bellowed about how happy he was to have his brother-in-arms back again, and Clint joked that he was only upset because he would have to have SHIELD build him crappy arrows which would be nothing compared to Tony's; he told the joke very badly whilst crying, but he still made Tony laugh.

Then Steve pushed everyone out of the way, and kissed Tony square on the lips, before breaking apart their kiss to pull him into a bone-breaking hug.

"I've been wanting to do that for ages," Steve said, before pulling him in again. This time, Tony kissed back hard, and by the time they had resurfaced, they were both breathing heavily, and the room was empty.

"I meant it, Steve. I really do love you," Tony exhaled, feeling dizzy from the kiss.

Steve gave a breathy chuckle. "And I love you to, Tony."

And the two of them kissed again, a kiss full of love and passion and-

"Will you two cut it out. I want to watch TV!" Came a shout from behind the door. They pulled apart, and chuckled when Sam- followed by the rest of the team- walked in, and plopped noisily onto the couch.

Just to get back at Sam, they kissed, making loud and exaggerated, fake moaning sounds.

"You know what, I give up on you two. Get a room," He shouted.

Tony winked. "With pleasure." He said, as he dragged Steve out of the room, grinning from ear to ear. It had been a strange day.


End file.
